CHI94FA212 · Beech A35
Beech A35 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
From an unrecorded airport to Richard B Helgeson Airport (TWM)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI94FA212
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Beech A35
- Aircraft type
- Beechcraft 35
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N3042V
- Operator
- Paul Douglas Johnson
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Richard B Helgeson Airport (TWM), Two Harbors, MN
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Airframe, component or system failure
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/spin
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Flt control syst, elevator control cable/rod › Jammed
- Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not possible
- Stall/spin › Encountered
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRPLANE WAS DEPARTING WITH 3 OCCUPANTS ON A FISHING TRIP. THE AIRPLANE HAD NOT BEEN FLOWN FOR 8 MONTHS, AND NO RECORD COULD BE FOUND OF IT HAVING FLOWN MORE THAN TWICE DURING THE 3 MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THAT. NUMEROUS WITNESSES DESCRIBED THE AIRPLANE ASSUMING A NOSE HIGH ATTITUDE IMMEDIATELY AFTER TAKEOFF, AND ENTERING A STALL/SPIN FROM LESS THAN 200 FEET AT THE DEPARTURE END OF THE RUNWAY. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED HEADING 180 DEGREES FROM THE DIRECTION OF TAKEOFF AND BURNED. AN ELEVATOR CONTROL CABLE WAS FOUND MISROUTED, WITH INDICATIONS OF SNAGGING ON A CABLE GUIDE. THE LOCKING OF THE ELEVATORS COULD BE DUPLICATED PREVENTING NOSE DOWN INPUT BEYOND NEUTRAL. NO OTHER DISCREPANCIES WERE FOUND.
Probable cause
THE JAMMING OF THE ELEVATOR CONTROL WHICH RESULTED IN THE PILOT'S INABILITY TO CONTROL THE PITCH ATTITUDE OF THE AIRPLANE. THE AIRPLANE ENCOUNTERED A STALL-SPIN AND IMPACTED LEVEL TERRAIN IN AN UNCONTROLLED DESCENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI94FA212
- Event ID
- 20001206X01488
- Case number
- CHI94FA212
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1994-06-28.
- API snapshot SHA-256: dbaa14e9b09fa9a5d9bffc1e8dd4f15d7a8ea9581ad081d99ed1d9f7eb780543; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:06:06.650Z.